Colorado College a value

0 Comments | Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Mar 8, 2007 | by DAN SERRA THE GAZETTE

Colorado College is the 15th-best value among private liberal arts colleges across the country, according to the April issue of Kiplinger's magazine.

The college's annual total cost for the 2006-07 academic year, including tuition, fees, room and board and estimated book expenses, totaled $41,612. That's 15 percent higher than the magazine's last analysis, in 2004.

Of those receiving financial aid, 86 percent came through grants and scholarships versus aid that must be earned or paid back, the personal-finance magazine reported. The magazine did not say how many students received aid.

After receiving need-based aid, students were left with an annual bill of $17,895, and after non-need-based aid $26,468, both the second-lowest among the top 15.

Categories that may have hurt CC's ranking were its graduation rate -- 77 percent of incoming freshmen graduated in four years and 82 percent in five years, which was the lowest graduation rate among the colleges in the top 15 -- and its lower percentage of students with high SAT or ACT scores -- 84 percent, and thirdlowest among the top 15. Both categories were improvements over the 2004 analysis, however.

"It's the combination of quality and financial," said Jane Bennett Clark, the report's author.

Clark said the magazine looked at each college's admission rate, student SAT and ACT scores and faculty-to-student ratio in addition to costs.

"The top schools have an excellent student-faculty ratio," she said. "We're trying to measure academic quality and affordability."

Kiplinger's selected Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania as the No. 1 value among private liberal arts colleges, in part because of its generous assistance for families who can't afford the full price and its high scores in quality.

Swarthmore covered 56 percent of the costs for students needing aid, about the same as CC.

CC scored better than Swarthmore in non-need-based aid, giving assistance to 19 percent of students who didn't demonstrate a need for financial aid, which was the third-highest among the top 15.

"It seems to give fairly sizeable non-need-based aid," Clark said. "It's important to look at the kind of aid schools are giving, because depending on your financial circumstances you want to check out how much non-need-based aid is awarded. People might be surprised at how much you can get non-need based."

This is the first time Kiplinger ranked private liberal arts colleges separately. In 2004, CC ranked No. 31 on the magazine's list of all private colleges.

The April issue will be on newsstands Monday.

TOP 5 COLLEGES

Kiplinger's magazine best values in private liberal arts colleges:

1. Swarthmore, Pennslyvania

2. Williams, Massachusetts

3. Amherst, Massachusetts

4. Davidson, North Carolina

5. Pomona, California

REST OF THE BEST

Kiplinger's magazine best values in private liberal arts colleges.

6. Washington & Lee, Virginia

7. Bowdoin, Maine

8. Colgate, New York

9. Claremont McKenna, California

10. Wellesley, Massachusetts

11. Carleton, Minnesota

12. Grinnell, Iowa

13. College of the Holy Cross,

Massachusetts

14. Lafayette, Pennsylvania

15. Colorado College, Colorado